The Xiaolin Chronicles
by Kelland
Summary: Raikim. Individual episodes, individual stories. Episode 2: The monks are fighting with each other, and Clay's become the referee. Deciding he's had enough, the dragon of earth goes home. But when the monks stumble upon an oblivious Jack who gets them into serious trouble, it's up to Clay to rescue them all. An episode about the cowboy who never got enough screen time.
1. Preface

**Welcome to my little corner of the internet! I've been dying to watch Xiaolin Chronicles (like I'm sure you are too), so I decided to write a fic about what might happen! I'm going to try and create a whole season of episodes, so instead of one giant plot I plan to write a bunch of still big but comparatively shorter stories based off of the facts we know about Xiaolin Chronicles. **

**This is the preface, the introduction to the season, a trailer if you will. Free cookies for anyone who reviews! That's right, I'm not afraid to bribe people with delicious baked goods.**

* * *

"GIVE IT BACK!" Raimundo looks almost animated as he shakes his fist in the air and hops up and down on one foot. His other leg is wrapped completely in a glossy white cast, vandalized with pink doodles and words. He's a little taller, a little thinner; his hair had grown out a little more, making him look more rebellious, a tad more scraggly. He bares the coveted black and red robes of a Shoku warrior, the leader of the Xiaolin monks, although he looks a little ridiculous covered in the sticky strands of the Silk Spitter.

He poises the Shen Gong Wu at his target, determination written on his face. "I'm warning you!"

Kimiko sticks her tongue out at her leader, obviously not conforming to his threats. She closes her fingers around the tiled roof of the vault, hoisting herself into a sitting position. She dangles her feet lazily over the edge, not at all phased by Raimundo's words or sincere seriousness.

The dragon of fire as well looks a bit older; she's also gained a couple inches in height. Along with her height, Kimiko's hair had grown substantially in length, getting to the point where it had become easier for her to tie it into one sleek ponytail than two. Since we last saw her she had only become increasingly beautiful, her lips had become fuller and her skin always had a stunning glow. She didn't even need makeup anymore to be an instant knock-out.

"Just come up here and take it from me!" She called back, holding Ninja Fred over the edge of the building only to provoke her friend.

"SILK SPITTER!" Raimundo yells in frustration, using the Wu without discretion on his teammate.

"Mantis Flip Coin!" Kimiko says cheerfully, using the power of the coin to propel herself off of the roof of the vault and onto the wall of another, using her Wudai skills to climb the almost flat surface to safety. The prized bear stays safely tucked underneath her arm, only to the aggravation of Raimundo.

The leader groans in annoyance, clutching the Silk Spitter to the point where his nails were digging into his own hands. He looks down at his injury, almost considering ignoring Master Lu's warning and climbing up there after her. What was a little bit of pain compared to proving to Kimiko that he wasn't useless because of his injury.

She notices his aggravation and just laughs, placing the bear in her lap and flipping the Shen Gong Wu obliviously.

"Raimundo!" Clay hobbles out of the vault, his center of balance seemingly off. The cowboy looks no less old than his fellow monks. His hair is longer from all sides, not just covering his eyes, but sneaking out of the back of his signature hat as well. Since their last great battle he only looks like he's gained more bulk, but more on the form of muscle than fat. But if anyone had recently had a growth spurt it was him; the dragon of earth had to be at least half a foot taller, towering over his fellow warriors.

"OW! Omi, would you quit it, little buddy?" The cowboy turns around to reveal Omi, apparently glued to his back by the not-so-merciful adhesive of the Silk Spitter and Raimundo's suddenly bad aim.

Omi, out of all of them, appeared to look exactly the same. He may have grown a little, but with the added heights of his comrades it was impossible to tell at all. If anything, he still looked as small and as cute as ever.

"URGH!" The smallest monk kicks the air, not sure how to escape when there was nothing to hit. He throws a punch, inadvertently hitting his friend in the process.

Clay shuffles forward, his legs almost glued together. "Rai, what are you doing?"

Raimundo looks down at his injury, not wanting to look his friend in the eyes. "Kimikoterkmaterdyber…" He mumbles, suddenly finding interest in the Silk Spitter.

"Speak up, partner, I can't hear y—OW! Omi, calm down!"

"This is most humiliating!" Omi cries, trying to use Clay as a springboard and tear away the silk. "I must get free!" He pushes off with all of his strength, reaching out for the air around him. The sticky string allows him to lurch forward, then pulling him back, slapping the two together and knocking Clay right onto his face.

Kimiko looks out at the boys, concern hidden among her beautiful features, the bear forgotten in her lap.

Raimundo finds an opportunity. "SILK SPITTER!"

Kimiko is, of course, ready. "MANTIS FLIP COIN!" She yells, this time with a little less smugness, leaping into a random direction. She soars over the courtyard, this time jumping onto the wall of the common room building. With less preparation she only has one hand available to cling to the wall, begins to slide, and then spiral to the ground below.

Raimundo drops the Wu and darts over the structure, opening his arms in a bridal-style catch. At first he looks relieved, then annoyed, plucking the bear out of her hands and dumping his friend onto the ground unceremoniously. He immediately afterwards offers her his hand. "Good game, Kimiko."

She takes his hand, laughing. "Right back at you, Raimundo."

"Now that you guys are done for the day, do you mind…?" Clay asks, walking in between the two.

"Sorry about that, dude." Raimundo says, grabbing Clay's hands as Kimiko takes Omi's feet, the two pulling until their stuck comrades are pried apart, the momentum sending the monks tumbling into heaps of arms, legs and silk.

"Oh, Raimundo." Omi chides, dusting silk off of his clothes. "You are supposed to be the good example around here, and all you seem to be exampling is mischief." He shakes his head, arms crossed. "I would not be surprised if your tyranny were to lead even the strongest of monks like myself to follow your model."

Raimundo looks at the temple around him, silk making a fine layer over just about everything. He shrugs. "I'll get it all clean eventually. It's been seven months since the last showdown; I've probably got another seven before we see one."

The monks sigh in unison from the thought of how long it's been since Omi almost caused a world catastrophe with the Sands of Time. Sure, there had been Shen Gong Wu revealing itself here and there, but there was never any action. It seemed almost as if the villain of the world had just decided to quit their conquest for world domination. Even their oldest adversary, Jack Spicer, seemed to have given up the business for good. And although that made the monk's lives ten times easier, it almost made it ten times more boring.

That was, until today. "GUYS!" Dojo slithers out from behind the corner, the Ancient Scroll tucked underneath his tiny arms. "A big one just lit up the board!"

* * *

In a small town like any other off of the Atlantic Ocean, a tiny, hooded figure makes his way down the cobblestone streets, a mission to drive him. He makes not a single error in his step, no slight hesitation before every turn. He's walked this complicated course a thousand times over.

The streets are void of people for such an early hour, but the town is not dead. People watch the figure rush down the streets through the cracks in their shutters, locking the door tight before he passes. This is a daily event, and everyone knows not to bother with the local phantom of the night.

The small boy, his mission unknown but his path common knowledge, reaches a house on the corner, one that was supposedly abandoned. No one ever went in besides the boy, but nobody, even the phantom, had ever come out. Yet the pattern replayed itself every day, the peculiar figure emerging from an unknown origin and ending right there. It was haunted, they said. But they didn't know any better.

The figure enters the house in his usual way, through a second story window. The room is pitch black, not even a candle to aid the eyes, but the boy never needed it. He had been living in the shadows his entire life, he could see in the dark as well as anyone could see in the light. He had heightened instincts, imperfect senses and flawless skills. Nothing less was expected from the teachings of Shadow.

He enters a hole in the floor, falling for almost a minute before using his staff to slow his descent, then hitting it against the wall at the exact moment to propel himself into another tunnel. He rolls, straightens, then sensing the presence of his master, kneels.

"My lady," he says in a low voice, placing his weapon on the ground. "The Jade Staff has finally revealed itself."

Two reptilian green eyes appear from the darkness. "Excellent," she purrs. "My brother will be most pleased."

The young boy looked almost surprised, hearing his master sound almost happy. "M-my lady, does this mean I am ready?"

She scowls in the darkness, but does not let her sour expression leak into her words. "Do not stutter around me, boy." She pauses for just a moment, wanting her silence to make him nervous. "My student, do you know what you must do?"

Three glowing dots appear on the boy's forehead, his concentration building. "Yes." He grabs his weapon from the floor, rising from his kneeling position. "I must destroy the Xiaolin monks."


	2. Episode 1: The Flower Child

**_Summary of episode 1: Things have gone quiet on the Heylin side, although the monks are far less than worried. While on yet another boring, action-less Shen Gong Wu recovery, the monks stumble upon a mysterious evil warrior who highly resembles the dragon of water (Ping Pong). Going against their better judgement, they bring him back to the temple with hopes that he can be turned to the side of good. But with a lifetime of Heylin training, is that even possible? An introductory chapter to Ping Pong and his own abilities. Jack Spicer will return in the next episode._**

**7 MONTHS PREVIOUSLY**

Jack Spicer, evil boy genius, was on the verge of creating the next big thing in evil, something that would blow away the competition for good. Even the monks would have a hard time coping with him once he unleashed his great new super weapon.

Over the past three years he'd tried everything, magical and non-magical alike, to rule the world. He was always stopped by the monks, and half of their success was due to Shen Gong Wu. Logic dictated that if the Wu was the key, then he obviously needed more of it. And not just stuff he had to steal, his own personal, Jack Spicer (Patent pending) Wu. And the only way for that to happen was if he figured out what they were made of. It would probably end up being pixie dust or stars or something random like lizard sweat, but it was worth a try.

In one hand he held the recently recovered (stolen) Rio Reverso. In the other, the Shroud of Shadows, one of the only Shen Gong Wu he had been able to hang on to. Well that and the Monkey Staff… Putting that aside, it was time to embrace his destiny and become evil overlord of Wu. He nervously rubbed the handle of the Rio Reverso. Here went nothing…

As soon as he called out the commanding words, everything went to hell. And even though that kind of thing usually did happen in his evil lair, this time was much, much worse. A blast of light sends him hurtling through the air, landing on his workbench and cracking it down the middle. The Shroud of Shadows starts to convulse, floating in midair like some kind of possessed exorcism. Watching the folds of the fabric, it looked almost as if a face was pressed up against the surface. The piece of fabric shudders violently, the corners start to singe and smolder away. His Jack-bots start to go completely berserk, all simultaneously activating themselves. They fly around in utter chaos, crashing into each other in showers of parts and sparks.

Jack covers his eyes as the Shroud of Shadows glows even brighter, and what seems almost like a ghostly hand reaches right through it. With another blast of gale light, he's picked up and thrown against a wall cabinet, passing out.

**XxXxXxXxX**

"Ughhmm…" Jack moans, rolling onto his back, eyes remaining closed. The Shroud of Shadows… and the Rio Reverso…. What happened?

A strong hand grabs his shirt, lifting him off the ground. "Who are you? And how did you find me?"

His head feels fuzzy, he can't think straight. There's somebody in his lab… a girl, but not Wuya… He opens his eye a crack. "My name… my name is Jack S-spicer, evil boyyy genius." He grins, although he doesn't know why. "And I shot the Shroud of… uh, thing, with the R-rio Reverso, and here y-you are…"

It's definitely a woman, a pretty one. Her hair is long and dark, cascading over her shoulders and far beyond Jack's line of vision. Her facial features are incredibly cold, and very… familiar. Adorning her head is a tiara-like headband with a jewel in the middle, which matches her very familiar looking armor… She looked like a person he knew, her slitted reptilian eyes seemed to be locked up in a memory he couldn't quite reach at the moment.

"Don't stutter in my presence," She says, scowling, but her words still seem casual. There is a long period of silence where the woman is just looking at him, like she's expecting him to spring up and do a dance or something…

"Jack Spicer," She says his name with pleasurable prejudice, hissing on the last R. "For releasing me, I will not kill you today. But you may never know of my existence." Her eyes have become incredibly shiny, her voice is suddenly soft.

"I must never know of your existence…" He mumbles to her, being very careful not to stutter.

"You will give up this lifestyle, and move on to a new one. You will no longer be called Jack Spicer, evil boy genius, just Jack Spicer, boy genius. You will never remember me, and forget your life up until now."

"Boy genius…" He reiterates slowly. Yea, he liked that name. It was a whole lot less evil. And he didn't want to be evil anymore, he wanted to live a new lifestyle… and forget this had ever happened…

"Good." She grinned at him, her reptile-like eyes looking very satisfied. She lets go of his shirt, walking off into a gaping hole in the side of his lab, the Rio Reverso in her clenched fist. "Goodbye for the rest of your miserable life, Jack Spicer."

**XxXxXxXxXxX**

**IN THE PRESENT**

"It's called the Jade Staff," Dojo explains, rolling out the ancient scroll onto the courtyard floor. The monks crowd around him, all eager to get a look at the newest Shen Gong Wu in a month. "It's a Wu that takes a lot of skill to master. When you bang it on the ground it releases an ancient relative of the Heylin seed." Sure enough, the illustration on the scroll shows a figure planting the staff in the ground, a giant plant thus sprouting from the floor.

"Well this bad boy can't be as terrible as the original," Raimundo comments, plucking Dojo off the ground and placing him on his shoulder. "Let's go get it."

The other monks look at each other uncomfortably. They didn't want to have to bring this up, but Raimundo obviously wasn't going to give up the charade. "Rai…" Kimiko says, putting her hand on his arm in an attempt to keep him calm.

"We cannot allow you to get in the way of us finding this most dangerous Shen Gong Wu." The youngest monk pulls Dojo from his leader, making an effort to act unperturbed for his teammates that would probably crack under the guilt.

"Like we've had problems in the past." Raimundo argues, pushing Kimiko aside and grabbing the small dragon by the tail.

"Rai, this could be dangerous." The cowboy sides with Omi, attempting to take the Wu detecting dragon from his hands. Raimundo stubbornly holds on, the two boys almost starting a tug of war.

"You're stretching my spine!" Dojo squeaks, his scaly green face turning red as his back starts to become unaligned.

The Shoku warrior suddenly lets go of the prize, sending Clay flying backwards from the momentum of the pull, right into the flower garden in which he crushed Master Fung's new petunia patch. But they were already covered in silk, so it wouldn't have made such a different that they were flat anyways.

"Fine. Whatever. I'll just stay here and, um, dust." He says, shrugging and crossing his arms in an attempt to look indifferent about the situation. He turns his back to his friends, looking at his shoes as he headed for the nearest building.

Kimiko, suddenly, didn't feel so sympathetic anymore. "Rai, aren't you being just a bit of a baby here?" She yells across the courtyard, putting her hands on her hips.

He keeps walking, not even giving her a side glance. "I can act like a baby if I'm being treated like a baby…" He mumbles as he pushes his way through the door, leaving the rest of the dragons shrouded in a fog of frustration with a side of cold shoulder.

**XxXxXxXxXxX**

"CAN YOU BELIEVE HIM!" Kimiko rages, her fingers digging into Dojo's back. Steam started rising from her skin, the air around her beginning to heat up.

Clay shuffles backwards on the dragon's back to avoid turning crispy from the human microwave.

"I mean, he's soo moody!" Her fingers start to singe. "Just because he's got a broken leg he thinks he can play victim all the time!" She begins to punch the dragon repeatedly. "WHO. DOES. HE. THINK. HE. IS?"

"Kimiko, I can breathe fire, I'm not impervious to it!" Dojo yells over the wind. Sure, Kimiko's inadvertent attacks were nothing compared to his daily dose of Wu chills, boils, colds and stomach flu, but how would you like getting beat repeatedly every time Raimundo upset Kimiko? And that happened often nowadays…

"Besides," Omi says, turning around to face his fellow monks. Just by the look in her eyes he knew it was a terrible idea to speak, but the words were already leaving his mouth. "It is your fault that his leg in broken in the first place."

Steam started rising from the Dragon of fire like a chimney. "IT WAS NOT!" Kimiko's hands twitch in an attempt to control the urge to grab Omi by the throat.

The dragon begins to dip, slowly descending below the clouds towards the ground. "Alright, kiddies, teen drama stops here, switch into warrior mode, please and thank you."

By the time the monks had arrived, the sun was setting over the ocean horizon. The wind grabbed at the monks hair (those who had hair, anyway), nearly carrying off Clay's hat. They touched down at the shoreline, a minimalist beach integrated with gravelly pebbles and rocks. As soon as they hopped off Dojo, their feet sank into the moist mud.

"These are Prada!" Kimiko whines, pulling her foot out of the sludge to look at her hopelessly ruined ballet flats.

Surrounding the beach was nothing more than flat, grassy green, rolling hills. Nothing higher than a weed obstructed the view from the beach, making it seem like the warriors would be walking forever before they were to find anything even resembling the Jade Staff. Upon further inspection, barely visible in the grass, was a dusty, beaten path.

"Dojo, are you sure we're in the right place?" Clay asks, scratching the back of his neck.

The dragon wiggles around in the mud, unsure how to slither to safety without sinking. "I could've sworn—" Omi sighs and picks up the struggling reptile, placing him on his shoulder. "—Thank you. Anyway, I thought that we hid the Jade Staff in a town around here, but after fifteen hundred years I guess I can forget from time to time. It's got to be somewhere out there." He points to a random spot in the distance, and the monks follow the direction of his finger.

"It's just grass out here." Kimiko huffs, still a little annoyed after the events of that morning and ruining her shoes. But at any rate, if there had been a Shen Gong Wu in the prairie, they would have found it…

Everyone sighs in union, not hiding the disappointment. At least they could have found something, but with no villains to fight, the life of a Xiaolin monk was really starting to lag.

"What is that?" Omi asks, taking off towards the path.

At first, Kimiko and Clay were weary of whatever Omi had spotted. It hadn't been the first time he had 'thought' he had seen something, and it was probably a bee or a butterfly or a—

"A flower?" Dojo nudges Omi's ear, clearly not amused. Upon second glance, the plant has already changed shape. "A very large flower…"

The small pink bud stuck out like a sore thumb that had most definitely not been there a minute ago. It stayed a small bud for a little over six seconds, growing twelve times its size as quickly as you can blink. Omi started to back away as the flower overcame his own size, doubling, then tripling Omi's meager height. Kimiko and Clay pulled out their Wudai weapons, clearly alarmed by this not-so natural event.

At once, the bud stopped growing, although failing to bloom.

"Just because it's a giant flower doesn't have to mean—" Kimiko begins to say when the flower start to convulse. A golden stick burst through the side, spraying Omi with flower juice. Hands start to claw at the petals from the inside, tearing away the organic shield.

The colossal pink sprout erupts into full bloom, the shredded flower petal spreading apart in what might have been beautiful array had a figure not fallen out and collapsed into the grass.

The three monks gather around the body, who at the moment looks completely lifeless. But it wasn't the fact that it might be dead, or how it got there, or even that it was clutching the Jade Staff in its arms. It was the bald, bulbous head, yellow skin and insanely arched eyebrows. It had to be the fact that this small figure was half the size of even the smallest Xiaolin monk. It was… Omi.

Kimiko hands Omi a dollar from her pocket without taking her eyes off of the doppelganger.

Omi's hand grabs at air a couple times before his hand closes around the money. "What is this for…?"

"The swear jar, just an advancement."

Clay leans in a little, trying to get a closer look from underneath his thick bangs. "What do you guy's reckon hap—" The cowboy is cut off as the Jade Staff rears upwards and cracks him in the jaw, sending him spinning into the grass.

Three small dots light up on the mysterious being's forehead as he plants the Staff in the ground, using it as leverage to kick Kimiko in the stomach, using her body as a springboard to soar right over Omi's head and into the taller grass, out of sight.

Kimiko coughs once, deciding to use one of her prepaid swear words.

Omi, on the other hand, quickly went from surprised to panicked. This person, whoever he was, had to be linked to the dragon of water somehow, and he wasn't going to let this opportunity slip away so easily this time around. "Show yourself!" He announces to the prairie.

The open expanse is silent for a moment, void of Clay cracking his jaw back in place.

Something the size of a prairie animal leaps out of its hiding place, landing squarely on the path, and booked it. Such short legs only carried him for a distance until the monks were on his trail. He trips on a loose rock in the path, skidding on his face a number of feet before once again becoming still.

The Xiaolin warriors drop their pace; slowing to a halt once it's become apparent the Omi look-alike was done running. Although it should have come to no surprise what happened next.

"Quick little sucker." Clay mumbles, his jaw bone still not feeling all that set.

"We can't just leave him here. Omi, he looks so—"

"JADE STAFF!" The figure jumps up, stabbing the Wu into the ground with profound strength. Cracks start to inch from the penetration in the earth, getting larger and larger as it started chasing the monks down the path to avoid falling in. Small slivers of greenery started to slither up from between the crevasse, grabbing at anything close; grass, stones, monks.

"You do not know what you've unleashed!" Omi yells over the earthquake that even Clay is having a hard time withstanding. The warriors wobble back and forth, trying to avoid the gnarly tendrils of the plants while making an effort not to fall into the rapidly splitting abyss.

"That is where you are wrong!" The boy speaks for the first time; his voice is very soft, but still quite harsh. He then proceeds to dance, fluidly moving the Jade Staff in weird motions, spinning it over his shoulder, waving it up and down, pointing to the sky and to the ground with it as if he were at a disco.

It was funny to watch for about half a second, that is until the plant started responding to his movements. The emerald vines start to twist, knitting themselves together until they've formed one massive super vine. The greenery slams down where Kimiko was just standing, her diving out of the way at the last second.

Omi pulls his Wudai weapon out of his robes. "Shimo Staff!" The small stick morphs into a monstrous looking axe that was twice its wielder's size. The three monks gather together, instinctually jumping into Dragon X Kumei Formation.

The giant weed rears back, preparing to crush them all in one giant blow, although with its size it's become increasingly slow. Fresh rounds of leafy green vines crawl up from the deft and grow towards the monks as the evil doppelganger starts to the Macarena with the Staff.

Kimiko closes her hands around a bounty of Arrow Sparrows, her grip becoming tight. She hadn't been this worried about a fight in a long time…

"ARROW SPARROW!" Kimiko's Wudai weapon burst from the palm of her hand, multiple fiery birds hurtling towards the massive plant. The limbs of the plant singe and crisp, some parts falling away; causing the giant limb to back away. But even before she can celebrate, old vines grow to replace the new, smaller tendrils reach up and capture her ankles.

Omi severs the vines with his weapon, but in less than a second the small vines have almost completely made a cocoon around her.

"Clay, there is only one thing left to do!" The bald monk hacks at small vines with his axe, but they're coming at his faster and faster. While off to the side, evil Omi grins sadistically as her begins to dance Gangnam Style.

The cowboy leaps over a new weed the size of a tree trunk, trying to get to the wound in the earth with little success. "But Master Fung said we're not ready!" He argues, tossing his Big Bang Meteorang at the base of the plant, which harmlessly bounces off. "But it's worth a try!"

Kimiko's leafy prison bursts into flames, signaling Omi that she could handle things herself. The dragon of water leaps into the air, flipping in all directions to avoid the aerial attacks of the plant. He lands on Clay's shoulder, and the two immediately start their chant.

"SENSHI SHOCK EARTH!"

"WATER!"

The each yell out their elements as Clay tossed Omi straight at the ground like a quarterback after making a touchdown. Surprisingly enough to everyone—Omi and Clay included since they had never been able to commence the attack successfully—Omi passes right through the Earth as if he were holding the Serpent's Tail. The ground starts to bubble underneath the vegetation nightmare, the earth turning incredibly soft, almost like quick sand. The weed begins to sink below the earth, leaves rustling in panic.

The doppelganger looks almost shocked, trying to perfect the cancan to retake control of the plant, but the greenery is out of control, flailing in all directions as it begins to sink. The small boy is punched from behind by a very angry looking Kimiko and flies through the air and into the quicksand. The hole in the earth begins to seal itself, amputating the plant's limbs.

The giant mud pit makes the sound of a flushing toilet as the plant sinks below in a giant whirlpool. Clay grunts, placing his hands on the ground, and with a satisfactory _pop!_ Omi is thrown out of the pit looking as if he just went through the rinse cycle of the washing machine. The ocean of mud hardens instantly, encasing everything in it in solid earth.

"You guys did it!" Kimiko says, giving Omi a hug. She looks fine, aside from a couple stray leaves ruining her 'do.

The young monk blushes, tilting his head in an attempt to look modest. "I knew there was not a move that we could not master,"

Clay approaches the source of their problem, now just a head sticking out of the ground. This time he's clearly unconscious, the monks not wanting to fall for that one again. He releases some earth around the Jade Staff, allowing himself to pull it free.

"Is it safe to come out now?" Dojo sneaks his head out from out of Omi's robe, his tiny hands covering his eyes.

"Thanks for your help," Kimiko says dryly as she goes to inspect their latest enemy.

Dojo slithers out of his hiding place, coming to rest once again on Omi's shoulder. "So what are we going to do with him?"

**XxXxXxXxXxX**

'Dusting… great idea." Raimundo mutters, tearing down the ruminants of that day's Silk Spitter heist with a Swiffer duster. He looked up at the ceiling of the meditation hall, unsure how he was ever going to get up there and remove the silk. His hands twitched. All he had to do was say the word and he could be up there in an instant.

He clenched his fist around the Swiffer. No, that would be directly disobeying the elder monks, and after how he got the break in the first place, disobedience is the last thing he needed. He was supposed to be the leader, and instead he had screwed up royally...

_*Flashback*_

"It is now time for you all learn the next level of attacks. Senshi Warrior." Master Fung stands in front of his seated students, his hands folded behind his back.

Omi raises his hand. "Master Fung!"

"Shoku warrior is just a title, Omi, Senshi is a level."

The youngest monk grins innocently, crossing his arms. "Please continue."

Master Fung continues his lecture. "Up until this point, all you have ever worked on is individual attacks."

Omi takes a breath, opening his mouth to argue.

"Team formations are not attacks, simply platforms for you to work on." Master Fung says before the young monk could counter him. "And new team formations will become available over time. But as you have formed relationships with each other, you are now ready to move on to the level of Senshi warriors, and with it come team attacks."

The ancient man beckons for Omi and Clay to stand. "Are you all aware of complimentary elements?"

"Like earth and water?" Clay asks.

"Precisely. While earth is complimentary with water and fire, it is not complimentary with wind, and vice versa. There are a number of combination attacks, but for today, we will be learning a water and earth attack, Senshi Shock."

"What about us?" Raimundo and Kimiko are still seated, both looking rather annoyed at being left out of the lesson.

Master Fung looks pained. "Combination moves take a certain level of… communication. If there is some kind of… misconception between the elements, the attack won't work."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Master Fung ignores his question, moving back to his other students. "Clay, Omi, if you wouldn't mind…"

_*end of flashback*_

Of course the attack hadn't worked, and Omi ended up getting a mouthful of sod and petunias. They had tried it again a few more times, each of which Omi took a face plant in the garden, and on one occasion, the koi pond. Rather disappointingly, their teacher had let all of them go from their lesson early.

Raimundo wasn't done with the subject of course. Maybe Clay and Omi hadn't been able to complete the attack, but why couldn't he? He was _the_ Shoku warrior, after all…

He had immediately gone to Kimiko, considering she was the only other person left out. It had taken a lot of convincing, but she had finally agreed to it. All they knew was the name; Senshi Cyclone. And he had gotten… scorched. As well as accidentally flung off the secluded mountaintop they had been practising on in a whirlwind of uncontrolled fire. It should have been easy for him to get out of that one, until he actually tried at the last minute and ended up shooting fire out of his hands instead. And Kimiko had been powerless to do anything, unless she suddenly felt capable of diving off a mountainside in hopes that she would just figure it out on the way down.

Master Fung had been able to give the incredibly detailed and long speech as Raimundo had gotten patched up, reason being the dragon of wind couldn't really go anywhere. It was normal for failed Senshi attacks to do that kind of thing, he had said. He had also droned on and on about responsibility, and how he couldn't just go cliff diving for the fun of it now. He hadn't even seemed all that angry, but he had expressed over and over how the key to Senshi team attacks was communication.

That was maybe part of the fact that had bothered him so much. It wasn't so much the fact that they had messed up the move, or that he broke his leg (considering that his worst injury over the years as a Xiaolin monk was a mere scratch the face) or even that he would eventually be getting the responsibility speech from Omi.

Clay and the cheese ball had disagreements from time to time. Nothing big, Clay probably got a little bit of pulp in the juice Omi had squeezed that morning. But him and Kimiko? Out of all of his friends at the temple, she had to be his closest. If he had good communication with anybody, it had to be her. He had helped her get over her recent break up with her last boyfriend; he was like the Keiko away from home. And yet…

_Is she not telling me something? _He thinks to himself as he wipes the same surface over for the tenth time. He could only wonder, he would never ask her. Great, there's an issue right there…

Raimundo sighs, tugging at the handle of his Swiffer as it stuck to the wall with silk. Kimiko, Clay and Omi were out their wielding dangerous weapons, he was 'dusting' in the meditation hall wielding a Swiffer duster. And the silk was winning.

The ground trembles a little as he feels the oh-so-familiar shake of a certain overeating dragon landing out on the courtyard. The injured Shoku warrior high-tails it out of the hall, leaving his Swiffer stuck to the wall like a decoration.

"Hey guys!" He calls, waving at the returning monks as they hop off of their ride. "How did it—Clay are you carrying a giant Ping Pong ball?" he asks, looking at the estranged object in his friend's arms. "Wait, is that Omi? What's going on?"

**XxXxXxXxXxX**

Gomi lurched into consciousness, reminding himself to keep his eyes closed at the last second. It was an old habit of his, but after all these years he couldn't remember why. He had just always felt like the dark was good, that he shouldn't worry why. The dark was good.

He did a full body check. He could feel everything, so why when he moved to wiggle his toes he couldn't do it? His limbs were ridged… it was if he were frozen. But that couldn't be right. His thought stopped immediately as he heard voices.

"What were you guys thinking, bringing him back?" Someone, a male for sure, whispers, poking him in the face, which he was powerless to stop.

"We weren't sure what to do, Rai! I mean, just look at him…" That girl, the one with the fire. He remembered a girl on fire… but where did it go from there?

"Is it possible he could be…?" The squeaky voice of the small one, the one with the round yellow head. In his mind's eye, that one looked the most ridiculous.

"Anything is possible when it comes to us…" The big one with the odd accent. He could now match these faces to voices, and he knew automatically it was the Xiaolin monks.

There was a long period of silence in which Gomi just sat and thought. He was stuck, unable to move. He could be face to face with what could be his enemies at that moment.

"Is he going to do something?" That male again, so very impatient. If what he knew was correct, that one was the leader. Typical, senseless humans…

"Do you want me to dance?" he finally asked, and for the second time that day, the effort involved in speaking was challenging. He rarely ever had to speak, even though he had learned a variety of languages in his studies. But speaking right to face of his enemies, particularly using a variety of words he knew but had never said before, proved to be more difficult than he had initially thought. He felt so weak…

His question was met with total silence, and when forced to open his eyes, the light temporarily blinded him. He squirmed, trying to cover his face with his hands, but it was wasted effort. He squints, and though tired eyes he looks at the blurry faces of the Xiaolin monks.

"What's your name, little fella?" The bigger one with onion breath asks, giving him a full whiff. His senses were being attacked from all angles, he couldn't stand it…

"Gomi," He chokes out, disappointed by how weak his voice is sounding.

The leader runs a hand through his hair in a failed attempt to look casual. "That's just way too freaky."

"hm…" The girl ducks out of the group, her hand going to something in her pocket as she turns out of the room.

But obviously, this specimen was much more engaging than that one.

"Where did you come from? How did you find the Jade Staff? Do you know your parents? Would you happen to have a long lost brother named Omi?" The smallest one is practically jumping up and down by the end of his barrage of questions, his face turning blue from lack of oxygen.

"Dude, just give him some space—"

"I... can't remember." It occurred to him that maybe it wasn't the right choice to dispel his life's story to his sworn enemies. In fact, it may be beneficial to do a little bit of acting…

The bigger one takes off his oversized hat, only to reveal a mess of blonde hair. "This has got to be some kind of Heylin magic,"

"Why is my presence causing all of you so much distress?"

The three boys look at each other, not particularly sure how to answer his question. The one with the strange head walks over to the far wall, blurring in Gomi's line of vision. The light in the room was so bright; he couldn't see that far…

Returning back, the yellow one holds up the reflective surface of a pot. It struck him as odd, but what was worse was what he saw in it. What he saw…

**XxXxXxXxXxX**

"So you're telling me he didn't even know what he looked like?" Kimiko asks, tapping away furiously at her PDA. She paced back and force in front of the koi pond, almost stepping in a couple times if it weren't for a gentle breeze that pushed her away every time.

Raimundo sat under the nearest tree, his soccer ball between his knees. He had tried kicking it around for a while, but with only one good leg it was basically useless. "He squinted at that pot for a second, like he didn't get it. Then he almost screamed. He didn't even know what he looked like. Explains a lot why he wasn't startled by Omi like he was of him. And he can't remember a damn thing; I think you may have hit the poor kid a little too hard."

"There's no Gomi anywhere on the internet." She sighs, seating herself next to him. "What are we supposed to do? We shouldn't have brought him here."

"Well Omi would—OMI!"

The dragon of water makes his way out of the garden shed, a miniature version of himself following closely behind. The doppelganger seems to go weak in the knees when he touches sunlight, but doesn't falter his pace. "And that is where we keep the Heylin seed!" Omi explains, Gomi nodding in understanding.

"DUDE! What are you doing? He _attacked_ you!" Raimundo tries to jump to his feet, but falls right back down due to his cast.

"Ah yes," Omi smiles with dimples, obviously unperturbed by his fellow dragon's shock. "As it turns out, my ally Gomi has no recollection of his past, or _how he got here._"

"What did you do with the Mind Marionette?"

"I gave it to my friend as a sign of my good will!" Omi says enthusiastically, as if he didn't just give an all-powerful Shen Gong Wu to someone who was probably their enemy.

"It is a most wondrous Shen—thing." Gomi says, holding up the golden string puppet. It's covered in sparkling jewels, one for every vital organ in the body.

"It allows the user to control another person's actions." Omi says matter-of-factly, naturally wanting to show off his knowledge.

"How fascinating…" The Heylin warrior looks at his companions as if he was already ready to release the power of the Mind Marionette on them. Luckily for the monks, he decided against it.

Raimundo instantly recognized that look. He'd seen that same expression on every adversary he'd ever fought in the past year. He remembered looking in the mirror, while he was on the Heylin side, and seeing that face staring back at him. It spoke of selfishness, hatred, and well… evil. And why Omi couldn't see that was beyond him. "Right, well, um, can we have that back, Ping Pong dude? It's kind of temple property, and _not for OMI to be giving away_."

Gomi holds the Wu close to his chest, his body language spelling out frustration and greed in bold lettering. Pouting, he places the Mind Marionette in Omi's hand, who in turn hands it to Raimundo.

The courtyard is filled with uncomfortable silence, Omi's grin turns into a frown. Kimiko's PDA beeps, and she begins to address a lone email.

The Dragon of Water gets a brilliant idea. "Raimundo, may he borrow your soccer ball? I would love to play soccer with my new friend!"

The Shoku warrior looks down at his precious ball, not at all wanting to lend it to the duo. Especially the evil one that was sure to break it while no one was looking. But with no viable argument, he reluctantly rolls the ball over to his fellow monk.

Omi smiles gleefully, kicking the ball between his feet, and over to his miniature friend. "Gomi, pass it back to me!"

The ball rolls right past the small warrior and hits a wall. He watches it go, then turns back to Omi. "What is the purpose of this activity? Warm up? Core work out? Endurance training, perhaps?"

"No, my good friend! I understand the desire to train, but this activity is solely for fun!" The little monk runs after the ball, once again setting up to kick it across the yard in a uniformed style.

Gomi taps his small chin, giving Omi a weird look. "Fun. Noun, meaning enjoyment, amusement, or lighthearted pleasure. Can also be in the form of an adjective, meaning amusing, entertaining or enjoyable. Verb, meaning to joke or—"

"Lost cause, Omi!" Raimundo calls, getting up from under the tree and hopping towards the common room building. "Your Ping Pong boy is a lost cause!" His journey is a slow one, and after at least a minute he's still going.

The leader turns around, opening his mouth to continue his rant. "And another thing—" his message is interrupted by a round, black and white projectile flying towards his head and knocking him onto his back. A soccer-ball shaped welt is already starting to form on his forehead.

Gomi laughs, rebalancing himself from such a glorious kick. "How is that for a lost cause!"

**XxXxXxXxXxX**

Cast, crutches, icepack. All he needed was a hospital bed and Raimundo would look like the cover of a cheesy get well soon greeting card.

Kimiko had insisted that he use the damn crutches again, as well as the ice pack. She was convinced that just by hopping around he was going to hurt himself even more. He had refused, so she had sat him down and threatened him enough until he agreed he wouldn't move without the crutches.

The kitchen was as good a place as any to wait out the rest of his miserable sentencing, or so it had seemed at the beginning. Every time Omi, Gomi, and now even Kimiko and Clay had joined the game, kicked the ball against the window, he would feel even more useless.

What sucked even more is that he didn't trust Gomi all that much. He really wanted to, to be perfectly honest, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He supposed he saw a little bit of his Heylin self in the mini-Omi. And the fact that he looked just like Omi was another impossibility to be investigated right there. Maybe the Shoku warrior could trap the little guy and take him over to Jack Spicer's for an examination to staunch his petty qualms.

_CRASH! _The kitchen window shattered upon impact, the ball flies right through, bouncing off the back of Raimundo's head, simultaneously creating a matching welt for the one he had only acquired minutes ago.

"Omi! Come and get your damn ball." He yells, turning the page of his novel, trying to appear uncaring.

Unfortunately, it's not Omi who comes and gets the soccer ball. After running inside, dirt covering his round head, the little warrior jumps onto a kitchen chair and starts reading over his shoulder. "What book is that?"

Raimundo pursed his lips in annoyance, closing the book rather violently. "I, uh, don't know. Kimiko gave it to me to read or something. It's a stupid girl book…"

"A Tale of Two Cities? I adore that book! '_A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other_.'" He quoted, grinning.

"Um… yea." Raimundo watched as the small boy grabbed the ball and exited the kitchen as fast as he had entered. Inadvertently or not, Gomi had made an excellent point. Maybe it was too early to judge him on where he came from. He was a Xiaolin warrior, after all, and what we they but not open to new people?

**XxXxXxXxXxX**

Three weeks, but he had done it. Gomi was sure he had all the monks on board with him, even the little dragon they called Dojo. Acting had only been a word to him weeks ago, but now it would most definitely be categorized under facts of life. There should be an Oscar coming his way, because this warrior had never given a better performance.

Especially the dragons, they had been difficult to convince. The leader always seemed a little weary of his antics, but as it turned out he was very kind. He had even gone so far as to allow Raimundo to call him The Ping Pong Boy. Kimiko scared him the most, but he had allowed her to play dress-up with him, and now wherever he went he wore these ridiculous green sunglasses to please her. He had actually almost become attached to them. Almost. Clay was no problem; he would probably be reluctant to kill spiders with his attitude. Omi was very challenging. Constantly with the games and the bonding, it was enough to drive a person over the edge. But the monks weren't as crazy as he had been taught; they were, for lack of a better word, _nice_.

That was not to say he didn't have fun. The monk's ways of doing things were so different than his master's house. It had taken awhile for Gomi to understand the concept, but after discovering its addictive qualities, he could not get enough of it. And he enjoyed being able to spar and not get killed every time.

But throughout those three weeks he was able to formulate the most brilliant plan, and soon, he would be home once again.

"Where are Kimiko and Raimundo?" Gomi asked, breaking the silence of the meditation hall. When no one chose to answer, he rolled onto his feet, giving his only remaining fellow monk a questionable look. "Are they not supposed to be here?"

Clay opens one eye, looking rather annoyed. "Rai took Kimiko's diary after breakfast; they're probably halfway to Timbuktu by now." The dragon of earth closes his eyes again, attempting to regain his concentration…

"MY FRIENDS!" Omi bounds into the hall, the Lotus Twister in his hand. "I have most exciting news! Master Fung has allowed us to spar!" He jumps up and down with excitement, grabbing Gomi's arm as an invitation for him to join the fun.

"Can't you two go and take this outsi—"

"Aren't we already allowed to spar?" Gomi asks, trying to be enthusiastic.

"This place is called the Meditation hall—"

"But this time we are allowed to do it with the Shen Gong Wu!" Omi yells, tossing his signature Wu in the air and catching it with a little hop and a spin. He was clearly excited.

"Can you guys just please ta—"

"Come, my friend! We may begin now!" The dragon of water opens the temple vault and leads a very curious looking Gomi inside. The room grows silent once again, and with a sigh, Clay goes back to his meditation.

Three seconds later, he hears that malicious, dreaded tone: "EYE OF DASHI!" Omi is thrown out of the vault, shock written all over his face, hits the wall and slides to the floor.

"That ain't a good sign," Clay mumbles to himself. He didn't want to believe it, but logic couldn't be denied. As Gomi ascended the steps to the vault, the Jade Staff in his hands, Clay knew they had been played.

**XxXxXxXxXxX**

* * *

When you were alone in the woods it could be high noon, but it was still creepy. With someone wasn't so bad, but in Raimundo's case, alone was the only option. Especially when you were being hunted.

Every step in the crunchy fall leaves sounded like an exploding grenade to him. Crunch. _Here I am._ Crunch. _Come and find me._ Crunch. _Feel free to tear me apart while you're at it._

If he was being followed by some Heylin idiot, maybe he wouldn't mind the noise. If he wasn't wearing the stupid leg brace (He had upgraded from the cast), he would have welcomed a villain or two to fight, considering they all took off months ago. But being hunted by Kimiko, well, he could really use some stealth right now.

Of course he had to go for the diary, that was the only thing that would have gotten him any attention. If he had taken something of any less value she would have just taken pity on him, and that was the last thing he wanted.

He stopped his awkward Forrest Gump trudge, leaning up against a tree. She was close…

"You're dead, Raimundo!" Kimiko falls from the tree above, her face written with rage, teeth bared like a wild animal.

The Shoku warrior uses the tree to push himself away, setting off in as much of a sprint at he could accomplish with a brace, the diary held high above his head. Kimiko hooks onto the tree right where Raimundo had been a second ago, bouncing off and following him at twice the speed. She's completely rabid for the entire run, but stops dead in her tracks upon catching the dragon of wind.

He's sitting on a rock, legs crossed, diary open to some random page. He reads the pages intently, his eyes dart up at her for just a moment, and he puts his finger up as if to signal that she should just give his a second to finish his page…

She takes a small step forward, hoping he won't notice.

He does. "Take another step and it's bye bye diary." He says, the wind in the area start to pick up, whistling through the trees.

"You wouldn't!"

"It'll be quite a surprise for some random farmer a hundred miles from here to come across this riveting tale, wouldn't it?"

"Okay, you win, just please, _please_ don't blow away my diary…" she holds up her hands in defeat.

"If you say so, Kimi." He smirks as he holds out the book. In the brief moment both of their hands were on the prize, she grabbed his shirt, pulled him down to her level and kissed him. Nothing passionate, in no way romantic, just a kiss, plain and simple. Needless to say, it was enough to wipe the smirk right off his face.

Just as quickly as she had kissed him she pushed him away with the palm of her hand, turns around and begins to walk towards the temple like business as usual.

Raimundo was stunned for just a second, then frantically began his little hop-skip to catch up with her. "Kimiko! What the heck was that?"

She waits for him to catch up, glaring at him with this look saying, _as if it wasn't obvious enough_. "Keiko dared me to do it. And I have to say, if I had known how bad that was gonna be I would have rather taken the teasing."

"Oh, um, yea. Good, 'cause I didn't want to have to hurt your feelings about—"

She stops walking, turning to poke him in the chest. "_Why?_ Did you think I was going to go all romcom on you?"

"No, I mean I just—"

"Because I didn't want to do that, not in the slightest."

"Okay, so then we've agreed that—"

"And that's the last time we mention this!" She hits him with her diary, and makes a run for it he could never match with his injury.

Raimundo lets her run, deciding it best he just walk alone with his thoughts.


	3. Episode 1: The Flower Child part 2

**_Urg. This has been long awaited, I know, I know. It's not that I'm not into this story, I really love writing it, I'm just an incredibly slow writer. To get it up to this meager quality it takes a lot of effort, so please excuse me. I'm going to have to get to it if I ever want to get through the whole season! Again, let's all just keep an open mind, this chapter is mostly just an introduction for what awesomeness is to come. Onwards!_**

* * *

_**Last time on The Xiaolin Chronicles**_

_"Good." She grinned at him, her reptile-like eyes looking very satisfied. She lets go of his shirt, walking off into a gaping hole in the side of his lab, the Rio Reverso in her clenched fist. "Goodbye for the rest of your miserable life, Jack Spicer."_

_"It's called the Jade Staff," Dojo explains, rolling out the ancient scroll onto the courtyard floor. _

_"We cannot allow you to get in the way of us finding this most dangerous Shen Gong Wu." The youngest monk pulls Dojo from his leader, making an effort to act unperturbed for his teammates that would probably crack under the guilt._

_Dojo slithers out of his hiding place, coming to rest once again on Omi's shoulder. "So what are we going to do with him?"_

_Is she not telling me something? He thinks to himself as he wipes the same surface over for the tenth time. He could only wonder, he would never ask her. Great, there's an issue right there…_

_"So you're telling me he didn't even know what he looked like?" Kimiko asks, tapping away furiously at her PDA. She paced back and force in front of the koi pond, almost stepping in a couple times if it weren't for a gentle breeze that pushed her away every time._

_"Um… yea." Raimundo watched as the small boy grabbed the ball and exited the kitchen as fast as he had entered. Inadvertently or not, Gomi had made an excellent point. Maybe it was too early to judge him on where he came from. He was a Xiaolin warrior, after all, and what we they but not open to new people?_

_Just as quickly as she had kissed him she pushed him away with the palm of her hand, turns around and begins to walk towards the temple like business as usual._

_"That ain't a good sign," Clay mumbles to himself. He didn't want to believe it, but logic couldn't be denied. As Gomi ascended the steps to the vault, the Jade Staff in his hands, Clay knew they had been played._

**XxXxXxXxX**

Raimundo and Kimiko were off somewhere in the woods, Omi looked like he'd just been petrified, and an evil Heylin warrior was about to release a monstrous living beast to destroy the temple. Once again, it was up to the most dependable Xiaolin monk to get the job done.

"Earth!" A piece of the temple staircase comes free of its base, rising in the air and slamming into Gomi like a flyswatter, sending him flying into the wall. The Jade Staff falls out of his hand, clattering on the floor and falling into the depths of vault. Giving one quick sidelong glance at a recovering Gomi, Clay dives into the vault after it.

Landing on the floor in a crouch, he lunges forward and closes his hands around the hilt of the Staff. Even with his strength and skill, the dragon of earth knew he wouldn't be able to control the power of the Jade Staff.

But he didn't have the chance to make a decision when a small yellow projectile leaps into the vault, bouncing off of the walls in a descent until he reached the bottom, bouncing up to Clay and latching onto the head of the Staff. Gomi plants a foot on the side of Clay's face in and pulls in an attempt to free the Wu from his hands, but it did little more than annoy him.

"Let…go!" He grunts, squishing Clay's cheek with his shoe.

Rolling his eyes, Clay reaches down to hold the end of the Jade Staff and point the head away from himself. The small warrior kicks at the air, now a couple feet of the ground, but he holds onto the Wu in a hug. "Gomi, I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown,"

Gomi cocks his head, giving him a quizzical look. "Pardon me?"

Now Clay can't help but be annoyed. "A Xiaolin Showdown. A battle over this here Shen Gong Wu?"

"Isn't that what we are doing right now?"

He shakes the end of the Jade Staff again, forcing Gomi to hug tighter to stay on. "Just accept it!"

"I accept it?" It sounded more like a question than an answer.

"The game will be a race up the steps of the temple vault; first one to the top wins. I wager my Mantis Flip Coin versus your… do ya even have anything?"

Somewhat surprisingly to Clay, Gomi reaches into his robe and pulls out the Mind Marionette he had been very fond of. He holds it out, now hanging from only one hand, bringing his knees up to his stomach. "I still do not understand what's going on—"

"Let's go, Xiaolin Showdown!"

As soon as Clay says the words, the temple vault begins to morph into an alternate reality. The midsection of the vault, in which didn't go past the ground level of the hall, shot into the air and right through the ceiling. The walls of the temple began to dissipate, melting into thin air and leaving behind a wall of darkness. The steps of the vault detached from the base, defying gravity and floating into open air like pieces of driftwood.

Watching the temple transform through the opening to the vault, the basement room goes dark as the arena is effulged completely in darkness. One by one, the vault steps begin to light up with an eerie glow, providing only enough light to see where the next platform would be. At the top of the staircase fifty feet above the mouth of the vault, the Jade Staff lies, waiting to be claimed by the winner.

Doing a double take, Gomi looks from Clay to the arena wondering how he magically transported feet away from where he was standing. His eyebrows only arch more when he sees Clay's miraculously changed outfit. As a student of Shadow, he was used to inexplicable magic. But this was just ridiculous.

Clay pulls the Mantis Flip Coin out of his pocket, holding it between his index finger and thumb in preparation to use it. Looking back at Gomi, he decides he needs to take the liberty to start the showdown. "Gong Yi Tan Pai!"

He leaps off from the start, leaving the boy confused and alone on the starting platform. "Mantis Flip Coin!" He yells, jumping past three glowing platforms in one powerful bound.

Back at the starting platform, Gomi decides that whatever Clay had yelled out must have meant go, so he went. Quickly leaping onto the next step, beginning the already losing battle of climbing to the Jade Staff. He may have been small, but if there was one thing you could attribute him to, it was speed. On all fours like an animal, he moves with incredible agility. But of course, it wasn't enough.

Even though he was steps ahead, the dragon of earth felt the need to improve the gap. "Earth!" At his command all of the platforms (excluding his own) spin at incredible speeds, sending Gomi flying his enough force to plaster him against the middle of the circular staircase.

As Clay disappears around the bend of the staircase, it takes the Heylin warrior a second or two to gather his bearings; meanwhile, he slides down the wall at a mile a minute. Kicking off of the wall, he land back on his hands and feet on a rock platform that was just evening out from the spin. There was no way he would catch up now, unless…

"Mind Marionette, Clay Bailey!" He yells, stumbling over to the side of the ledge, holding the Wu aloft.

Immediately, Clay, from a couple stories up, involuntarily jumps off the side and floats in place. "Put me down you two-faced worm!"

Grinning, Gomi shakes the Mind Marionette, causing Clay to mimic his movements. "If you say so," And with that, he drops the Shen Gong Wu into the black abyss below.

"HEY!" The dragon if earth is powerless to stop his falling, even more so to catch the Mantis Flip Coin from falling out of his palm. His form is tossed aimlessly back into the vault, there to stay at least until the showdown was over.

Jumping up to grab the Mantis Flip Coin, his grabby hands closing around his newly acquired Wu. "Mantis Flip Coin!" He called out, using the power of the Coin to quickly leap to the top of the staircase, tackling the Jade Staff and ultimately winning the showdown.

**XxXxXxXxXxX**

The walk to and from the forest felt a lot longer the way back than the way there. Maybe it was the fact that with her diary in the pocket of her robe, and no murderous thoughts on her mind, there were other, more self-detrimental ones.

Luckily for her, she was granted the distraction of Gomi sprinting out of the meditation hall, his arms full of Shen Gong Wu; which she knew he wasn't allowed to touch.

Not wasting a moment, Kimiko runs up to meet him halfway to the temple gate. He tries to dodge around her, but after almost a year of having to chase after the boys (*cough* _Raimundo_ *cough*) for her stuff, she was a very effective blocker. "What do you think you're doing?" she asks, reflexively jumping back and forth to stop him.

Not answering with words, Gomi responds by chucking the Longi Kite at her. She bats it aside and repeats again, this time with a little more force: "_What are you doing_?"

Without hesitating this time, he ran right at her legs, intending to knock her onto her face. Kimiko, unusual for herself, let him. Right before her face was to hit the ground and Gomi was about to make a break away, she stuck out her arms and grabbed onto his calves. Bringing her legs down to the ground faster than she fell, she dropped into a bridge. Then bringing her arms upwards, she threw the small warrior as hard as she could into the adjacent wall.

Chunks of 1500 hundred year old plaster fall away from the wall as Gomi slams against it. But he's just as quickly back on his feet, dropping all of his Wu except for the Jade Staff. Gripping the Wu in both hands, he dives into a front flip, sticking his leg out in a kung-fu kick.

Kimiko easily jumps back, basic knowledge for a Senshi warrior. Right as he sails past, she falls onto her back, bringing up her leg like a soccer player about to score a winning goal. Her foot connects, and he face plants into the cobblestones.

"I asked you a question," She spats.

Omi and Clay finally take the liberty to run out of the meditation hall, but freeze as soon as they see what's going on.

Spitting out dirt and clumsily wobbling to his feet, Gomi carefully falls into a fighting stance; his every intention to fight the monks. "My home is in the prairie, and that is where I am dutiful to."

None of the dragons have any words to respond with, and suddenly it's become a showdown of silence.

…That is, until Raimundo finally caught up with the group. "Hey guys!" He called; waving his arm as he slowly limped towards them. "I miss anything?" His eyes dart back and forth between the group, taking him a second to pick up what was going on. "Guys…?"

In the brief moment the three dragons are distracted, Gomi leaps in the air, falling into a roll and wrapping his arms around Raimundo's healing legs.

"Dude, what are you—"

Raimundo can't even think to try and shake off the little guy before Gomi raises the Jade Staff upwards, bringing it down towards himself—and running it right through his own stomach. The duo immediately burst into a shower of flower petals, and as the soft pink buds begin to touch the ground, they dissolve into the earth, leaving not a trace behind.

**XxXxXxXxXxX**

Slitting one eye open ever so carefully, Raimundo is immediately met with the green glasses and impending stare of the Heylin warrior. It appeared like he had been waiting and watching the entire time.

The dragon of wind was having a hard time recollecting exactly what had just happened. "Where are we?" He asked, observing the thick forest that seemed to surround them for miles around.

"I do not know." Gomi words were whispered, and he suddenly took a lot of interest in tracing the detailing on the Jade Staff's hilt.

"I think… I think we are in the forest surrounding the temple." Raimundo says, getting a familiar feeling from the place he had recently been walking through. And then it all came crashing down. "You were fighting the others! What the heck were you doing?"

"I thought I had a duty to my home."

Raimundo raised an eyebrow. "You thought? So then what is the temple and all the people that accepted you there, then?"

"…I do not know."

Using a strong push from his arms, Raimundo gets to his feet. He turns his back to the boy and walks away, more because he knew he was in a weaker position than anything. "Trust me, dude, I went through the same thing. Just let me know when you get your priorities set out."

"You cannot leave." His expression is still deadpan.

Raimundo opens his mouth to respond, but is interrupted when he bounces off the air. He reaches out in front of himself, feeling… a solid wall. "What is this…?"

"Your encasement."

"My what!?" He stares, wide-eyed at Gomi, who doesn't show any kind of response. Sitting back down, he carefully hugs his knees. "Were you ever on our side?"

"I do not know."

"Well then get a clue!" he shrieked, now officially past annoyed. He spins on his bottom, not wanting to look at the kid. "I should have known you were no good the second I laid eyes on you."

**XxXxXxXxXxX**

"The Iro Iris has just been revealed!" Dojo yells, slithering in on three out of four of the Xiaolin monks collected on the steps of the dormitories. He just as quickly does a head count, and immediately loses his urgency about the new Shen Gong Wu. "Where's Raimundo?"

The four dragons looked at each other, not sure what to say. "He's… gone." Kimiko says quietly.

Dojo purses his lips. "Gone as in into town to get milk?" He asks hopefully.

"More gone than a T-bone steak at dinnertime," Clay sighs.

"That's a bad level of gone."

Omi pushes himself to his feet, dusting off his pants nonchalantly. "So, Dojo, what kind of Shen Gong Wu are we looking for?" After receiving incredulous looks from his fellow monks, he shrugs his shoulders. "Just because Raimundo is not here doesn't mean we have to be mopy lazybags,"

Dojo begins to back away slowly. "You know, guys, this one isn't a big deal we can always—"

"No." Kimiko stands up as well. "Raimundo may be injured but he's still just as strong as any of us. He would want us to go."

"Really, Kimiko, this one's pretty lame—"

"I SAID LET'S GO!"

**XxXxXxXxXxX**

"The Iro Iris allows anything that is touched by its blast to be turned a random colour. It's good for getting a new hair colour or repainting a room or…" Dojo noticed the confused stares he was getting from the monks at their various places on the landing. "Okay, so it's not very useful. I never had the heart to tell Dashi, he just seemed too fond of it. It was the first one he made, did you know?"

"Dashi could have made anything he wanted, and the first thing he thought of was colours?" Kimiko snorts at the concept. "Sounds like he had the right idea."

"Kim, hush up!" Clay yells across quite a distance, yards away from the spot they touched down, eager to find the Iro Iris.

The presumed hiding place of the Iro Iris was a desolate, icy mountaintop expanse. It was a rather convenient flat landing, let someone had chopped off the top of the mountain. Of course, the landing was covered in hidden icy patches and layers upon layers of snow, making it a booby trap heaven. One careless move and you would be sent tumbling over a hundred feet to your death.

It had to be below freezing temperatures, so much that the monks were probably getting frostbite on their internal organs. Without Raimundo to calm them, the winds at such an altitude were fierce, ripping right through the monk's thin winter jackets. If they didn't leave with the Wu, in a couple of cold minutes they would be forced to leave without.

"Excuse… me… but it appears…. Ungh…" Gomi, not as superiorly as he was trying to appear, plants one sturdy hand on the side of the mountain's ledge, pulling himself up and over. "...that we have some things to discuss."

The dragons instantly drop into a fighting stance, more than ready to fight the Heylin warrior. "Where's Raimundo?" Kimiko sounds more like she's making a statement than asking a question.

"I let him go back to the temple."

"How come we don't believe you?" Clay growls.

"I—"

"Well, well, well." All heads turn to the source of the voice, although the dragons don't need to look to see who it was. Chase Young grins at the warriors, once again using his ability to somewhat magically morph to where he wanted to go. "It looks like you've done me the favour of collecting my belonging for me." Eyes scanning the trio of monks in particular, he grins even wider. "And where's your leader? Don't tell me; he's off gallivanting with some girl."

Kimiko can't help but let Chase get under her skin, maybe more so because Raimundo wasn't there with some witty comeback. "What do you mean your belongings?"

"I mean," he maneuvers his way over to the monks, close enough that he could reach out and touch them. "I'm here to pick up after my sister's mess. She was never that good with controlling her students."

"What do you mean student?"

Chase doesn't even need to say anything, just point his face in the direction of a shaking Gomi. "You'd think after a lifetime of going to the same place every day he would know how to get there." He turns to address the little warrior. "Or have you—"

"SUN STRIKE!" In an instantaneous flash, Gomi puts his hands in the air, touching the tips of his fingers together. It seems almost like something is beginning to form between his palms, but before it can even be identified he spins on one foot, using the force of the spin to lob whatever was in his hands, like a pitcher, straight at Chase.

The Heylin warrior is caught completely off guard and—as the monks scatter around him—is sent sprawling into a snow bank. Moment later the snow seems to explode, a fuming, slightly steaming lizard man in Chase's place. "You wretched little boy!" He yells, lunging in Gomi's direction.

"EEEK!" He may be inexperienced, but Gomi wasn't stupid. He knew that fighting Chase would result in certain death, so he did the only other thing he could think of. Holding up his hands he yells out: "Ozone Shield!" As if there was an invisible wall, Chase slams into it with so much force he almost sticks.

Meanwhile, the monks were scrambling to get out of there. Enemy versus enemy, the only solution was to get out before they had to get involved. Kimiko and Clay were already urging Dojo to supersize ("Right after I shrunk down! It's like I'm a car you can just start up! Hmph.") and Omi was discreetly, but quickly, making his way over as well.

Apparently tripping on his own feet, Omi falls onto his face and right into the snow. Feeling an unusual lump underneath himself, his gloved hand reaches into the snow and pulls out a weird looking cylindrical object.

It looked like a magic wand, glass, with a swirling array of colours mixing around inside like a lava lamp. Topping the end is a glittering white orb with a green cat's eye that spun around on its base to look at Omi. The Iro Iris just seemed to stare at him, although since it had no eyelid that's probably all it could do. But it's simple stare spoke tons_: Do something about this, or just take me and leave._

"Come on, Omi!" Kimiko yells over the sound of a fight, her and Clay already atop Dojo's back. But the dragon of water wasn't sure that was something he could do himself.

Quickly recovering, Chase jumps to his feet and stands off with Gomi. "I know you can't hold that shield up forever," He smirks.

Kimiko and Clay looked at him, worried as he makes no sign of response. "I am going to regret this," He mutters, gripping the Iro Iris tightly. It jumps in his hand, its glass form wrapping around his palm as easily as a rope, the white Iris sitting on the back of his hand.

"We must help him!" He yells, turning over onto his back and pointing the Wu at the pending fight.

In that moment, Omi jumps to his feet, pointing his Shen Gong Wu at the lizard. "Iro Iris!" A ray of white lightning shoots out of the green eye, narrowly missing Chase's backside, zipping around him and hitting a random snow bank; turning it bright orange.

Just as It appears like Gomi's shield was about to give out, Chase spins on his heels to glare at Omi. "This has nothing to do with you, so stay out if you know what's good for you!"

The dragon of water responds with another blast from the Iro Iris, this time aimed directly at his target. Chase jumps out of the way just in time, the light blast zipping right past him and turning Gomi's Ozone Shield green right before it dissipates.

With a ferocious roar, Chase turns and runs at Omi with the intention to tear him to shreds.

Kimiko flips onto one hand, falling into a somersault and rolling once again back on her feet, yards away from the monster. "Senshi Fire Slam!" She yells, arching one arm over her head and holding the palm of her other close to her chin, clenching her fingers to make the appears of a beast's maw. She purses her lips and blows on her hand, which seems to spark in her palm. A horrific, giant tornado made of fire bleeds from between her fingers, but as it grows it looks more like worm, one long line, its mouth opening up into rows and rows of fiery, rotating teeth.

The giant lizard tries to dodge the attack, but the worm flies upwards, coming down hard, face first, and dispersing as it hit the snow. The attack seemed to have working until he leaps out of the fire cloud, completely untouched, and slams right into Kimiko, sending her flying out of commission.

"I told you all to stay out!" He growls, definitely past calm now. He approaches Kimiko's cringing form and he looks like he's about to attack again when he hears: "SENSHI SHOCK EARTH!"

"WATER!"

Turning to look, he sees Clay, feet slightly sunken into the mud. The snow on the mountain begins to turn brown as the previously frozen mud layers beneath it begin to rise to the surface. The ice seems to crack as small geysers of mud splutter into the snow, and Chase's claws sink a little into the ground as well.

"Earth!" Clay calls. The mud automatically begins to move towards him, climbing up the cowboy's legs like a sheet and wrapping around his torso. The thin watery blanket races down his arms, stopping at his clenched hands and layering over itself until his fists appeared five times bigger than they actually were. Punching the air hard, the mud fist flies right off of Clay and right at Chase, who dodges it easily.

"It'll take a little more than just you to stop me, dragon of earth."

Not half a second later does a small, muddy hand shoot out of the earth and grab the Heylin dragon by the ankle. On any other occasion the bond would be easy to break, but whatever the monks were doing, it was strong.

This time Clay's fist doesn't miss, hitting Chase right in the chest; he falters in place. Another hand shoots out of the earth, and the lizard sinks knee deep.

"Gomi, you stupid child!" he screeches, not as level headed as he would like to be. "Call them off!"

As if summoned on cue, the small, bleary warrior ducks his head out from behind a snow bank. He looks dizzy, but gets to his feet carefully. "I… cannot."

Clay glances quickly at Gomi, but then turns back to Chase, not seeing any threat. He shoots again, this time coating his shoulder in mud. The blast on his chest is already hardening, and it seems like it's freezing him in place.

"For heaven's sake why not?!" The giant lizard sinks waist deep as a third hand breaks through the ice and grabs hold of him.

"Because I realize that this is not where I belong."

"I own you!" Chase growls, just as his entire right arm freezes in place.

"Nobody owns me."

"That's where you're wrong!" The Heylin warrior grabs one of Omi's hands, pulling him out of the mud completely. He throws the filthy monk right at Clay, sending them both tumbling out of sight.

"JADE STAFF!" Gomi leaps up, planting the end of his signature weapon in the ground right at Chase's feet. Immediately, giant sprouts begin to climb out of the hole, wrapping themselves around his legs.

Easily ripping the vines straight from the ground, Chase spins and kicks Gomi in the gut. He karate chops another thick vine straight in half with his hand, then another. He jumps into the air flipping three times before coming down hard on the premature hole from which the demon plant came, squishing any life still left forthcoming.

"HAA!" As the rest of the greenery shrivels and begins to disintegrate, Gomi jumps at him again, attempting to hit the Heylin lord with his Staff. Every jab is easily dodged or deflected, even easier than facing a Xiaolin monk. With one quick stab Chase makes an offensive move; bringing his elbow down on top of the boy and smashing him into the earth face first.

The giant lizard cackles, flipping a groggy Gomi over with the claws on his foot. Staring the weak boy right in the eyes, he growls: "Now, you _will_ come with me."

Eyes darting over Chase's shoulder for just a second, Gomi frowns. "No."

A clawed hand comes down and grabs the scruff of his shirt. "You're not getting a choice."

"I…" His eyes dart back over to a point over his shoulder.

"What are you looking at?" Chase rumbles, looking over his own shoulder just in time to get a good look. His eyes go wide, but he has little more time to react.

"SENSHI SHOCK!" Omi and Clay yell at the same time, just as the massive, muddy wave they are riding atop of crashes down on Chase and Gomi. The mud almost instantly begins to harden, and Dojo flies in just in time to pluck the right monks (and one additional warrior) out of the dirty ocean and back to the temple.

The four fly off, grimy with dirt, but overjoyed all the way.

**XxXxXxXxX**

The temple is just appearing over the horizon line before anyone took the liberty to speak. The latest fight against evil had made them all pretty tired, but they were probably all using that as an excuse not to discuss what was all on their minds at the moment.

"What caused you to take your side?" Omi finally asks, speaking to the back of Kimiko's head; but everyone knew who the question was directed to.

"I had a duty to fulfill."

Shifting his body so he could turn and look at the doppelganger, Omi can only glare. "There has been a lot of duty talk lately."

Finding a sudden interesting in the scales on Dojo's back, Gomi keeps his eyes locked on the bumpy green texture. "My master was once Shadow. She taught me everything I know, how to use the Jade Staff, how to fight, my…" His eyes dart up and Omi and back down so quickly you'd be unsure he did it at all. "…special abilities."

Everyone was silent, signaling for him to go on. "And that was all I ever knew, so I stayed and trained. Part of the magic of me staying there was that every time I would die, I would return to my home, which was the prairie. It must be a natural place. But the last time, I reformed somewhere else. I reformed in the forest surrounding the temple, as Raimundo confided in me."

The dragon finally makes a soft landing in the temple's courtyard, although it seemed just as eerie and quiet as it had before the monks had left to find the Iro Iris. The attention seemed to suddenly shift from Gomi to the silent expanse, from the problem to the possible answer.

Raimundo turns the corner of a building, a mug full of ice cream clenched in his right hand. He seems pretty absorbed in digging through it with his spoon, since he doesn't notice the arrival of the monks until he gets a tackle hug from all three of them plus a miniaturized dragon. The mug shatters on the ground, but no one really cares.

"You're okay!" Kimiko is the first to give her official greeting, wrapping both arms around his shoulders. "You could've gotten hurt!"

"I did not doubt you for a second!" Omi blurts out, hugging onto his right knee like a child would an older sibling, all dignity he had tried to hold completely forgotten.

"We're just happy you're here in one piece," Clay says, clapping his friend on the back with maybe a little too much added strength, causing the dragon of wind to wobble a bit.

"Don't you ever scare us like that again!" Dojo whimpered, mirroring Omi's action.

"Guys, relax!" Raimundo moans, shaking his leg to try and remove Omi's death grip. "I'm not completely helpless!"

Kimiko raises an eyebrow.

"But I guess I'm maybe just a little kinda sorta defenseless with the brace on." He grins sheepishly.

"How did you get back, anyhow?" Clay asks, but his eyes are already on the small boy standing only a few metres away from the reunion.

"I may not understand you people," Gomi takes a deep breath, looking down at the floor once again. "or like you all that much… but if this place is supposed to be my home, then I suppose this is where my loyalties lie."

The dragon of earth shakes his head. "I'm 'fraid trust has become a touchy subject here of late."

Bringing his eyes back up to face the monks, Gomi pushes his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. It was odd, he had become quite attached to them in a way that he'd never been about anything before. "Then I hope you all will give me a chance to prove it. Starting," the words suddenly looked like they were more difficult for him to say. "with a new beginning. I need a new name."

The Xiaolin monks look at one another, silently reaching an agreement but not all that sure how to respond.

"I was thinking, because I feel like it presents itself at a familiarity level, Ping Pong." After another moment of thought he adds in, "I would like to promote your habits of… spontaneity and fun."

Raimundo limps forward from the group, almost without hesitation. "Well then I guess there's nothing left to say. On behalf of the monks, welcome to the temple, Ping Pong."

**XxXxXxXxX**

Back at the mountain, Chase Young is just beginning to break free of his hard encasement. It had taken him almost an hour to just shed off the outer layer alone. Almost half an hour from that point was he finally able to break an arm free, and the rest fell off from there.

The monks were only getting stronger, as their attacks had dictated. Soon, they may just become unstoppable. Maybe even stronger than him. And now with that little half-wit on their side, that fact could only come quicker.

A silvery white fox burrows out from underneath a snow bank, the Rio Reverso clamped in its jaw. Slinking its way over to him, it spits the Wu out at his feet. It's a little slimy, and although Chase is hesitant to pick it up, he does.

The next time he blinks, there's a tall woman with very similar features standing before him. "You just got your butt handed to you." She says, laughing to herself.

"Thanks for your help." Chase sighs, wiping the Rio Reverso on his sleeve.

"You wouldn't want to give away all your plans at the beginning of a war, would you?"

"We might as well, considering you let young Gomi slip through your fingers."

She scowled at him, her former student still a petulant subject for her. "Minor setback."

"Indeed." He turns his back to her, not in the mood for Shadow's immature mood swings. With her time trapped in the Shroud of Shadows, she was much less developed than he was.

Just as Chase had suspected, his sister's curiosity got the better of her and she asked another one of her senseless questions. "So, what's the plan now?"

Glancing over his shoulder at Shadow, he holds up the Rio Reverso to her. "We wait until I can really find out how to harness the true power of this Shen Gong Wu. But meanwhile, it would never hurt to cause a little turmoil between the monks."

**XxXxXxXxX**

**END OF EPISODE 1**


	4. Episode 2: Gaps in the Earth part 1

**Summary of Episode 2: Already, the monks are fighting with each other over god know's what, and Clay's become the referee. Deciding he's had enough, the dragon of earth departs from the temple for good; not like anyone noticed at first. He may not need them to live his life, but they do need him, particularly when the remaining monks stumble upon a mind-wiped Jack Spicer who gets them into more trouble than they bargained for. Now it's up to Clay to pick up after their huge mess—again. An episode about our favourite selfless cowboy who never got enough screen time.**

**A/N: I've decided I'm going to cut the episodes up a little more. Less content per chapter, but in my opinion way better than a month long wait period for a half episode. Enjoy**

* * *

If there was one thing Clay Bailey wasn't a fan of, it was the winter. Sure, snow was fun to play in, the cold was very refreshing from the hot summers in China and the white snow made every day seem brighter; but he just didn't like that certain season.

Maybe it was because of where he came from; spending his whole life in the hot Texan desert did make a cold winter seem very unpleasant. Maybe it was due to the fact that the wintertime always called for a wardrobe change, and the dragon of earth didn't much enjoy having to go through his moth-ball infested trunk and dig up his smelly winter clothes. There was a good chance that he disliked the winter so much because he always seemed to catch some kind of cold, and being sick was very unpleasant when fighting evil.

That's what Clay kept telling himself as he shovelled snow out of the temple's courtyard. If he kept repeating it in his head, perhaps he would start to believe it himself. Patience was a virtue, he reminded himself over and over again, so he might as well get used to it.

Of course, it wasn't that considerate of his fellow monks to leave the job to him alone, that he was sure of. Especially now with Ping Pong around, the new set of hands should at least be around to get the chores done.

The little monk had adjusted a lot quicker than anyone had expected. Of course he still had his little quirks that were getting on everyone's nerves only days after him being accepted in. Sometimes the things he would say wouldn't make sense, not in Omi's way of misusing words, more like they were incomprehensible to meaning. Or other times, he would stop you midsentence to define a random word you've just said. And he seemed very familiar with the idea of chores, and, believe it or not, almost appeared to like to do them. Then they would finish and go and do something fun, and he would act like the entire idea was befuddling to him. He was just like Omi, but… different in his own ways. There had to be some sort of connection between them, of which the monks at the temple had yet to pinpoint besides the uncanny resemblance.

Master Fung, after taking a good look at the boy, could almost immediately determine that he did indeed have some kind of magical ability like the dragons themselves. So far, all he knew was Sun Strike, a weird baseball like move that allowed him to harness the sun's power in like a laser type thing, and Ozone Shield, which was pretty much self-explanatory. If Ping Pong did have some kind of specialized ability, there wasn't really so much indication of what kind it was just yet.

Clay was surprised that Ping Pong wasn't there helping, he would usually enjoy this type of thing. Glancing down at the seemingly endless stretch of yet to be cleared snow, Clay can only hang his head and keep working.

Patience, he reminded himself, was a virtue.

**XxXxXxXxX**

Shedding his jacket at the door of the meditation hall, Clay's job was only half done for the day. He was as cold as a block of ice, but that frozen jacket wasn't going to keep him warm now. It would probably be best for him to leave behind his wet boots as well, but for where he was going he was still going to need them.

Flying down the stairs of the vault, Clay stops right at the same drawer he does almost every afternoon: The Golden Tiger Claws. With any other Shen Gong Wu there was a strict rule about not touching them. But after weeks of having to go through this same process every day, Master Fung had almost given him a free pass on their usage. At least one dragon was trusted with them.

"Golden Tiger Claws," Clay mumbles, slashing a hole in the air. Of course, he wasn't all that sure where to go, so it was always up to him to start guessing. But if he had heard right, Raimundo had said something about a beach. Jumping into the portal, he could only hope he would find the dragon of wind on the other side.

Wherever the dragon of earth reappeared, it had to be almost three in the morning. It was late, well past a natural born cowboy's bedtime, but the party was still going strong. The waves roughly lapping up and down the beach stood out as the quietest thing about the entire ordeal. People were yelling, chatting, and just plain screeching as they ran up and down the shore trying to avoid the water in some kind of game.

A girl off to his right shrieked as someone poured a substance down her shirt, although Clay could barely make out her outline in the dark, maybe it wasn't a girl at all. The only light source at all was a massive bonfire near the center, the people surrounding it casting odd shadows along the sand.

It was an odd place for a party, the music was almost incomprehensible to boot. No dancing, not even any light; this was definitely not a typical western hoedown that he would have enjoyed. Best to get in and out as soon as possible, problem was, how was he supposed to find Raimundo in the dark?

Muttering something or other about irresponsibility, Clay weaves through the crowd towards the fire. His hands were frozen to the bone, and although the jeers and hoots from the groupies were annoying he could really use some heat in his fingers.

And that's when he saw him, sitting around the fire surrounded by a bunch of girls. Back in that stupid white hoody of his, a pair of white framed Ray Bans on; although it was the dead of night. One of them was clinging onto his shirt, whispering in his ear. He laughs and then they all laugh, and at that point Clay decided it was the best time to take Rai home.

Grabbing the hood of his friend's sweater, he begins to drag him through the sand. They needed to find an open enough space to use the Golden Tiger Claws without delusional partygoers falling in.

"Hey!" Raimundo tries to yank his hoodie out of Clay's hands, but it's no struggle of strength between the two. Glancing over his shoulder to see who this powerhouse must be, the Shoku warrior immediately gave up the struggle after recognizing the cowboy hat. "Clay? Dude, what are you doing?" He moans, digging his heels into the sand to try and stop himself. Even with both legs good and healthy again, he was no match for his stronger counterpart.

"You lost your watch or somin', Rai?"

Raimundo's expression jumps from surprised to confused to peeved in three seconds flat. "What? No…"

Finally letting go, Clay dumps his friend in the sand. "Then why don't you explain what you've been doin' here all night. You missed another Shen Gong Wu."

Raimundo blinks once, but otherwise shows no expression. "Did you get it?"

"Of course we got it!" He kicks the sand, turning his back on the dragon of wind, his voice dropping. "I just wish you and Kimiko would work things out rather than havin' me drag your sorry behinds home every night."

"Me and Kimiko aren't fighting, dude. She does what she does with her time, I'll do what I do with mine."

"Seems more like a contest to me."

"It is not!" Raimundo gets to his feet, the sand falling away from his green jeans. Why he even bothered to go back to his old look when he went out was beyond Clay.

Opening up another rift with The Golden Tiger Claws, the Texan can't help but sigh. This routine was starting to get tedious, even for a patient guy like him. "Just get in, we've got to go find Kimiko." He says, leaping into the portal and out into another dark party scene.

**XxXxXxXxX**

"What's with the sunglasses anyway? You look ridiculous!"

"I could say the same about your blue hair, you look like a _clown_!"

"It's called style!"

"You looked like you curled your hair with the Iro Iris every morning!"

"At least I try and look presentable when I go out! It's called a comb, invest in one!"

"I can do well enough without you trying to change everything about me!"

"It was your idea! You got a new look and I agreed to stop dying my hair, or has your pea brain forgotten that too?!"

"Block it out, Clay." He cowboy huffs, humming to himself to drown out the screaming match coming from inside the vault. As soon as they had picked up Kimiko and morphed to the vault to put the Claws away, it began again. At least this was the first time in a while he hadn't been dragged in to play referee. Almost at the exit of meditation hall (Although it should be renamed the yelling room after what it goes through every day), he's hoping he can make a quick and quite escape in time for lunch.

Grabbing his slightly damp coat from the floor, he zips it up right to his chin. He didn't have time to worry over Raimundo and Kimiko both having to brave the freezing weather in short sleeves, getting caught in the crossfire was way worse.

Clay's about to rush out the door when he notices them out in the courtyard, bickering like kids, although in technical terms they still were. Ping Pong, as he now asked to be referred as, trudging his way across the courtyard in an oversized pair of red goulashes. Lower lip jutting out in determination, gloved hands clenching onto his jacket as he walked. Every couple steps his green glasses seemed to fog up and he would have to rub away the premature frost with the hem of his hat, which kept up the constant battle of falling over his eyes. He looked like he was trying to walk quickly, but with the small steps her was taking it was hard to tell.

Then there was Omi, for once in his life looking big when compared to his companion. An almost overly cheerful smile plastered on his face, a game box hefted between his arms. He looked like a blur, jumping back and forth in front of Ping Pong, waving the game box in front of his own face. It had been like this for days now, Omi's constant pestering to play games, Ping Pong constantly denying him that much.

On one hand, Clay could barely blame the dragon of water for wanting to spend time with the new monk. For once in his life, even if it wasn't true, it appeared like Omi had some kind of actual family. He wanted that bond, and unfortunately for him, Ping Pong was not so eager. The new monk liked hard work, he liked reading and most of all he liked silence. And lately, Omi hadn't shared any of those qualities.

"For the last time," Ping Pong growled through clenched teeth, although Clay could hear him from across the distance of the courtyard. "I DO NOT want to play CHECKERS!" He keeps up his even pace, but it's easy to tell that he wanted to hit something. Or someone.

"But this board is one square larger in diameter!" Omi argues, pointing at the cover of the box like that would make the game more appealing. "Imagine all the more fun it would be!"

Shaking with cold, or maybe it was rage—it was hard to tell from so far away—Ping Pong stops his march. "I would just like to spend some time in the peace and quiet, if you do not mind." He says surprisingly calmly considering the expression on his face.

"Ah, yes." Omi nods, stopping as well. He holds down the box, and for once his head can be seen clearly. "But first, maybe just one game?" The checkers are back in Ping Pong's face, which now seems to be turning an unhealthy shade of red.

Footsteps coming up the vault stairs, the sound of _their_ voices echoing into the meditation hall.

"You're being a jerk, you know that?!"

"Well excuse me, but you're the one who kissed _me_!"

"I told you already, Rai, I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT IT!"

Now was the time to get the heck out of there. Clay discreetly descends the steps, careful not to draw any attention to himself from the two boys out in the yard. The voices grow louder behind him, pushing him to move. How could it be that life at the temple has gotten to the point where he has to take precautions to avoid the other monks?

"But it'll be fun!"

"You have proven that it will be otherwise!"

He scrambles back towards the side of the building, trying to keep out of view. Just keep walking…

"You're so damn moody all the time!"

"Fine, it was a huge mistake! Happy now, Rai?!"

Scoot away from the building as far as possible, got to avoid Mr. and Mrs. Banshee.

"Clay, can you please communicate to _Omi_ that I DO NOT WANT TO PLAY CHECKERS!" Ping Pong yells, his eyes making direct eye contact with the dragon of earth and refusing to let go.

"Clay, can you know you can't leave me alone with _him_!" Kimiko shrieks, pointing in Raimundo's direction, but she's locked onto the poor cowboy in a death stare that would burn holes in his jacket.

"PLEEEAASSEE! This game will be just as riveting as the last!"

"You say that after every game!"

A pounding headache was beginning to develop.

"Well you're no joy to be around either, Miss congeniality!"

"Right back at you, Mr. amiable!"

The dragon of earth takes a step back, fingers crossed none of them will notice. They notice.

"Clay, back me up here!" Raimundo demands, clenching his fists like he was preparing to jump into a fight. If things went the way they usually did, he eventually would.

"Clay, can I have some assistance please?" Omi asks merrily, although there is an underlying tone of frustration in his voice.

Yelling, more yelling, more yelling, more yelling. How the heck did it ever get this way? Everyone worked together so well before, and now look where it's gone. The fault is equally divided, even if they don't see it. How has the dependency of holding the team together suddenly been given to him to handle alone?

The yelling melted down into one harmonious scream. And it wasn't going to stop.

This wasn't worth it anymore. Four monks were more than plenty, after all. Ping Pong could take his place no sweat. "I'm going home," He says in an even tone, although everyone is being too loud to hear him; too busy with their own personal battles.

Turning around, Clay heads in the direction of the common room building. "And I ain't comin' back."


End file.
